For years, the problem of salvaging deep-sea oil leaks has been of great concern. It has long been known that such leaks waste valuable quantities of oil and/or gas, and the oil causes huge environmental problems, both to the sea, beaches, wildlife, etc. The monetary expense and cost to the environment of these spills is staggering.
Great quantities of oil wastage are involved with these spills. For example, in the 1979 tragedy of the Mexican oil well leak in the Bay of Campeche, it was reported that the leak was spewing out more than 10,000 barrels of oil daily, and that in less than three months it had dumped over 2,000,000 barrels of oil into the gulf.
The recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico for three months in 2010. The impact of the spill continued long after the well was capped. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. On July 15, the leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead, but not until after it had released about 4.9 million barrels or 205.8 million gallons of crude oil. It was estimated that 53,000 barrels per day (8,400 m3/d) were escaping from the well just before it was capped. It is believed that the daily flow rate diminished over time, starting at about 62,000 barrels per day (9,900 m3/d) and decreasing as the reservoir of hydrocarbons feeding the gusher was gradually depleted. On September 19, the relief well process was successfully completed, and the federal government declared the well “effectively dead”. However, the spill continues to cause extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries.
In late November 2010, 4,200 square miles (11,000 km2) of the Gulf were re-closed to shrimping after tar balls were found in shrimpers' nets. The total amount of Louisiana shoreline impacted by oil grew from 287 in July to 320 miles (510 km) in late November. In January 2011, eight months after the explosion, an oil spill commissioner reported that tar balls continue to wash up, oil sheen trails are seen in the wake of fishing boats, wetlands marsh grass remains fouled and dying, and that crude oil lies offshore in deep water and in fine silts and sands onshore.
Accordingly, there remains a need to provide a means of containing and recovering spilled oil, quickly, efficiently and conveniently, thereby minimizing loss of oil and protecting the environment.